


A Pair Of Dull Scissors In The Yellow Light

by agentexmachina



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff, M/M, Misunderstandings, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-15
Updated: 2019-09-15
Packaged: 2020-10-19 07:13:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20653241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agentexmachina/pseuds/agentexmachina
Summary: Bucky asks Steve to cut his hair.





	A Pair Of Dull Scissors In The Yellow Light

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by Samson by Regina Spektor (you can listen to it on [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p62rfWxs6a8)).
> 
> It's also my first entry to the Happy Steve Bingo! It's my first time writing for an event so I hope it fits into the general theme and I interpreted the prompt right.
> 
> Prompt: Grooming

One night, Steve is shaken awake by Bucky’s hands on his shoulders and his soft whisper in Steve’s ear. 

“Steve. Steve, wake up. I have decided, I want you to do it.”

Steve opens his eyes slowly and he blinks several times to clear his vision.

“Want me do to what, Buck?” he asks, his voice slightly rough from disuse. Then he spots the pair of scissors in Bucky’s hand and he is suddenly awake, jerking into a sitting positing so quickly he almost throws Bucky off the bed. “No,” he says too quickly and maybe a bit too loud because Bucky flinches and Steve can see him retreat into himself, his eyes becoming distant and his body falling into itself but Steve doesn’t let him pull away. He reaches out and grasps Bucky’s arm, pulls him closer. Bucky once told Steve that he doesn’t like to be touched like he is fragile, like he is going to break if someone is too rough with him. 

“I’m sorry,” Bucky mumbles, avoiding Steve’s eyes. “I shouldn’t have brought it up, I’m sorry for waking you up.” 

Steve instantly makes an effort to relax and lifts his other hand to massage Bucky’s jawbone and the tender area around Bucky’s eyes. He translates the soft touch he wants to give into the strong, grounding touch Bucky wants to receive and Bucky leans into him while Steve draws circles on his skin. He wishes he could massage away the pain that seems to be etched into Bucky’s features. 

When Bucky is still not pulling away, Steve starts running his hand on Bucky’s arm up and down and pulls him even closer while his other hand falls to rest on Bucky’s neck. 

“We talked about this,” he says, keeping his voice even. “I won’t hurt you. We can talk about everything, there is no thought you need to hide from me. But I won’t ever intentionally hurt you.”

For a second, Bucky looks startled and then he rolls his eyes in a very Bucky-like fashion. It’s a gesture Steve remembers from before the war. “Idiot,” Bucky whispers, before fixating Steve with his eyes that glow silver in the moonlight that falls through the window. “I don’t want you to hurt me with _these_,” he says as he dangles the pair scissors in front of Steve’s face and a grin begins to tug on the corners of his mouth. “I want you to cut my hair. You asked me some time ago if I wanted to keep my hair long or have it cut shorter and I have decided. I want you to cut it.” After a moment of hesitation, he adds, “please.” Then he grimaces, as if the word left a sour taste on his tongue.

“But … I’m not a hairdresser,” Steve argues weakly. Besides painting and drawing, he is not very skilled with his hands and he broken quite a few pencils and perforated several pages of his notebook before he got used to his new super strength. 

“It doesn’t matter, because I trust you.” And Steve cannot refuse Bucky anything if he looks at him like this.

So he bites back the ‘Are you sure?’ because of course Bucky is, or he wouldn’t have asked. Instead, Steve says, “Then let’s go to the bathroom, I don’t want to go back to a bed full of your hair later.”

“You would probably like sleeping in my hair, you weirdo,” Bucky teases and for a moment it feels like they are back to normal.

Steve has to remind himself that this is their new normal now. Bucky will never be the person he was before the war again and neither will Steve. Sometimes Steve will be walking on eggshells, reach conclusions too quickly, risk being too rough. He cannot take away what happened to Bucky or take back the seventy years they have lost. 

But Bucky is here and that is everything that matters.

Steve takes Bucky’s hand, leads him to the bathroom and cuts his hair, the dull scissors glinting in the yellow light and when he is finished, Bucky tells him that he did alright and kisses him until the morning light.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> [Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/agentexmachina) | [Dreamwidth](https://agentexmachina.dreamwidth.org/)


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